New(er) religion

Marshall Vian Summers claims to be receiving a new message from God. Over the past thirty years, Summers has recorded more than 800 spoken revelations while living in seclusion in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. He claims these revelations come from God and are being given to him by angelic emissaries.

When asked about his "New Message," Summers said, "It was revealed to me by an Angel of God, a powerful, mysterious presence that filled my mind and the surrounding environment with grace."

In the beginning, Summers found believers in his wife, his son and a small group of committed students. Yet now, a growing number of people are staking their faith in Summers' claims, and most live far from Colorado.

From South Korea to Uganda to Saudi Arabia, people are congregating virtually on Summers' website, and his organization regularly releases translations in seven languages.

With followers worldwide, Summers' organization has turned to live internet broadcasting to preach the word. One Sunday a month, Summers presents via webcast an "original revelation of the New Message from God" to his viewers.

And on February 6th, Summers will descend Moses-like from his proverbial mountain in the Rockies to offer his newest digital stone tablets from God. This month's release: a 47-minute revelation entitled "Deeper Recognition in Relationships."

So am I, Commander Shepard. But sorry Stud, big leap from god to angels talking to marshall, in his head, then onto aliens are taking over.

I am a tad concerned if the aliens just don't take any notice of said contract - devious little critters that they are, as is Milos - I just don't trust aliens when they are evil body snatchers. Honest, ethical, sweet, fun aliens are a different matter all together :D

Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said that in order to enjoy good fiction, one needs to learn to suspend disbelief, which is what I try to do as I read your posts. At first, I thought you were pulling our collective leg, but it's becoming more and more obvious that at least YOU believe strongly in what you are saying. You have long ago exceeded the effort/reward ratio of one knowingly perpetrating a hoax.

The law of averages implies that there are planetary systems out there billions of years older than ours, and I do not discount the possibility that there could well be a race of beings who have evolved abilities so far beyond our own that we cannot understand them, and being Human, and as such, relative newcomers to the realm of sentient beings, that which we cannot readily explain, we tend to call, "God."

I cannot, however, accept an actual, supernatural "god," nor any accompanying "angels." We relatively few Human beings who have come this far in terms of finally shaking off the shackles of belief in supernatural beings, will find it difficult, if not impossible, to voluntarily replace those shackles because of a few bouncing lights in the sky.

There is a story - and I'll be the first to agree that it may well be urban legend - of three American airmen, flying a recon plane during WW II, who experienced mechanical problems. They landed their light aircraft on a plateau spotted from the air on a remote Pacific island. They got out, repaired the problem, ate lunch from C-ration cans, which, not being particularly environmentally conscientious, they tossed aside on the ground, then took off. Years later, one of these men, retired and cruising the world on his sailboat, found himself in the vicinity of the island, and adhering as he was to no particular schedule, decided to make a sidetrip, for memory's sake, and visit their old landing site. He scaled the plateau, and once atop it, found a replica of his old recon plane, made of sticks and straw, and inside, in the "cockpit," he found the three, abandoned C-ration cans, reverently placed on the "seat." It seems that the island was in fact inhabited, by natives who hid in fear in the jungle, and watched as three gods descended from the sky, ate a meal, and ascended once again into the heavens. The stick and straw replica of their mysterious craft had been an object of worship ever since.

Yeah, what archaeopteryx said! - cargo cult - but what the - no Santa Claus??? What about Goblins?

The President of USA, most powerful nation on earth, Ronald Reagan not only believed there was going to be an alien invasion, he also believed in Astrology, as did his wife.

The contract that Stud has here, is it like the Hitler-Chamberlain contract?

Someone has missed their vocation - fantastic document - you believe that et's can enter our body and control us, but they are going to take notice of what this document demands? This is the scenario for the next Sci-fi movie - it would make a mint.

Of COURSE there are Goblins Suzanne, I would never imply there weren't - but as I understand it, they're entirely confined, due to their fear of water, to the island continent of Australia, where they dine almost exclusively on Eucalyptus leaf salads, with Italian dressing and possibly a little chives and cherry tomatoes on the side.

Strike - you had me worried there for a bit - yes, they do have a fear of water - and their boat making skills are not the best - apparently, sometimes they use French dressing, and Fetta cheese and olives, when they can get them.

First of all, great find, Suzanne - I expected a link from Student, and it looks like we have several below your post, but I'm surprised that you, not he, came up with one first.

In the 1970's anthropologist Desmond Morris wrote a book, The Naked Ape, around the same time, Robert Ardry wrote The Territorial Imperative. In one of those two books - I don't recall which, but it most likely was Morris - the author came up with what he called a sociological formula, amity = enmity + hazard. He explained this as the degree to which two groups form an alliance is equal to the amount of enmity they originally had, but were willing to set aside to mutually cope with a hazard. His example was an island in a river during a forest fire, on which one may well find cougars, rabbits and deer (Oh my!), yet they exist there in harmony, due to the mutual hazard of the fire. Once the fire is extinguished, or has passed by, and the animals regain shore, it's business as usual, but for that brief time, they all live in peaceful coexistence.

I wonder, could Reagan have been trying to manufacture such a crisis, to achieve global cohesion? I don't know, but it's worth considering.

Oh, I am sure a lot of governments do it, that's why everybody is screened at airports - the axis of evil and Weapons of Mass Destruction etc. and certainly churches - it is their life blood - fear and catastrophe.

But I do think Reagan believed it, man of very little brain, as does Stud, but I am also sure there are lot of high flying xians who do not believe. That is what I hate most, generally, hypocrisy.

But Stud won't answer my question - I am not questioning UFO's - I am questioning the charlatan marshall, who says an angel is talking to him, in his head, and god is sending the message to the angel, then the angel sends the message to marshall - and Voila - we have aliens snatching the bodies of earths good citizens and are up to no good. And a lovely group of people have taken up marshall's cause, and marshall is busily putting out books, and filling people with fear, that we are in dire danger.